"Come Aboard the Magic Carpet!” declared the Omaha World-Herald in 1947. In that year, it published forty-five aerial photographs that appeared in the newspaper’s booklet “Omaha from the Air.” These photographs gave eagle-eye views of downtown Omaha, landmarks, and landscapes.

In the fifty-two years since Omahans first took flight aboard the World-Herald’s magic carpet, Omaha’s landscape has shifted and altered. Many of the same landmarks photographed in “Omaha from the Air” such as the areas around St. Cecilia’s Cathedral, Boys Town, and Union Station, have been altered considerably.

Using 42 aerial photographs held in The Durham Museum’s Photo Archive, the exhibit will highlight the changes to Omaha’s architecture and landscape over the passage of the twentieth century. Some objects to be included are several 1915 maps of Omaha highlighting the cities growth and change, cameras used by each of the photographers represented – Louis R. Bostwick, Robert Paskach, and John Savage.